Research Database

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Therapeutics Award
John V. Heymach, MD, PhD
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
David Carbone, MD, PhD
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
A Breath of Hope Lung Foundation

Cancer cells make chemicals that attract blood vessels. This process is known as angiogenesis. Drugs that inhibit angiogenesis are already being used to treat lung cancer patients. Unfortunately, not all patients respond to angiogenesis inhibitors. Dr. John Heymach is studying what determines whether a patient will respond.

Early Detection Award
York Miller, MD
University of Colorado Denver, AMC and DC, Aurora, CO
Wilbur Franklin, MD
University of Colorado Denver, AMC and DC, Aurora, CO
Kavita Garg, MD
University of Colorado Denver, AMC and DC, Aurora, CO

Computed tomography (CT) has a high false-positive rate. Less than 5% of people with nodules found through CT actually have lung cancer. Cells from benign nodules differ from malignant ones in two ways: they have a normal number of chromosomes and they make the same proteins as normal lung cells. Dr. York Miller is taking advantage of these differences. His team is developing a sputum-based test to determine whether a nodule is malignant or benign. The test will help decide whether the nodule requires follow-up.

Early Detection Award
Suzanne Miyamoto, PhD
University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA
Oliver Fiehn, PhD
University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA
Karen Kelly, MD
University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA
This grant was funded in part by Thomas G. Labrecque Foundation

Biomarker-based tests that complement CT will make it easier to detect lung cancer early. These tests should also be useful for both high-risk (current and former smokers) and low-risk (never-smokers) populations. Dr. Suzanne Miyamoto and her team are studying different protein, fat, and sugar molecules made by lung cancer cells. These different molecules can also be found in the blood of lung cancer patients. Their ultimate goal is to develop a blood test for the early detection of lung cancer.

Early Detection Award
Edward Patz, MD
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
Michael Campa, PhD
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
James Herndon
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
This grant was funded in part by Thomas G. Labrecque Foundation

CT scans often detect the presence of a lung nodule. Most of these nodules are benign. Dr. Edward Patz and his colleagues have discovered 25 auto-antibodies (protein molecules) found in the blood of non-small cell lung cancer patients. They are developing a simple, blood-based test to confirm these findings in larger groups of these patients.

Therapeutics Award
Alexander Steven Whitehead, DPhil
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Pemetrexed is a chemotherapy drug commonly used for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. The drug blocks two proteins called DHFR and TS that cancer cells need to grow. Not all patients respond to pemetrexed. Dr. Alexander Whitehead is studying how changes in the DHFR and TS genes predict response of non-small cell lung cancer patients to pemetrexed.

Early Detection Award
Steven M. Dubinett, MD
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Krysan Kostyantyn, PhD
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Protect Your Lungs/ LUNGevity Foundation Research Grant; funded in part by A Breath of Hope Foundation

Lung cancer cells produce different types of proteins and RNA molecules that circulate in the blood. Dr. Steven Dubinett and his team have discovered 17 unique miRNAs in the blood of lung cancer patients and other high-risk individuals, such as smokers. Blood of healthy and low-risk people do not have these miRNAs. They are developing an miRNA-based blood test to predict which high-risk individual might develop lung cancer.

Early Detection Award
Samir Hanash, MD, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
Gary Goodman, MD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
Christopher Li, MD, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
Protect Your Lungs/ LUNGevity Foundation Research Grant; funded in part by A Breath of Hope Foundation

Never-smokers with lung cancer represent 15% of all lung cancer patients. However, never-smokers do not undergo computed tomography (CT) for screening. Dr. Samir Hanash and his team are identifying biomarkers in the blood of low-risk people. Their ultimate aim is to develop a blood test to screen never-smokers.

Early Detection Award
Canary Lung Cancer Early Detection Initiative
Canary Foundation, Palo Alto, CA
LUNGevity Foundation - Canary Foundation Research Grant

The Initiative is developing a panel of blood-based biomarkers that will improve the reliability of different imaging approaches. It is also exploring markers that will predict the recurrence of lung cancer.

Therapeutics Award
Prasad Adusumilli, PhD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Funded equally by LUNGevity Foundation and the National Lung Cancer Partnership

Dr. Adusumilli is studying patients who underwent surgery for early-stage lung cancer but whose lung cancer returned because of a condition in which the cancer extends to the pleural membrane covering the lung cancer. Using genetic engineering, Dr. Adusumilli is modifying the patient’s own immune cells in a way that may not only eliminate the spread of tumor cells to the pleura but may also treat the spread of the cancer by tumors too small to be detected.

Therapeutics Award
Jing An, MD, PhD
SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY
Funded equally by LUNGevity Foundation and the Upstate Medical University at State University of New York

Radiation therapy is used for the treatment of lung cancer. Sometimes, the cancer does not respond to radiation. Dr. An is developing new drugs to make lung cancer cells sensitive to radiation. The primary goal of the research is to provide lung cancer patients with a customized combination treatment of the drugs and radiation therapy.

Early Detection Award
William P. Bennett, MD
Beckman Research Institute at the City of Hope, Duarte, CA
LUNGevity Foundation/Uniting Against Lung Cancer Research Grant

Dr. Bennett is evaluating potential biomarkers for their use in identifying lung cancer patients by comparing blood samples taken from patients with lung cancer and from patients without lung cancer. His goal is to build a panel of biomarkers that will aid in diagnosis.

Therapeutics Award
Jeffrey A. Borgia, PhD
Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
LUNGevity Foundation/Respiratory Health Association of Chicago Research Grant

Dr. Borgia is developing a process based on biomarkers derived from tissue and clinical factors such as age, smoking history, histology, and stage of diagnosis of lung cancer. This process will identify which patients with advanced-stage lung cancer will respond to medical treatment and thus qualify for surgery that potentially could cure the cancer.

Therapeutics Award
Johann C. Brandes, MD, PhD
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Funded equally by LUNGevity Foundation and The CHEST Foundation

The CHFR gene is a gene that has undergone changes in its DNA. Dr. Brandes is studying how the CHFR gene predicts a non-small cell lung cancer patient’s response to chemotherapy.

Therapeutics Award
Johan C. Brandes, MD, PhD
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
LUNGevity Foundation/Uniting Against Lung Cancer Research Grant

The PARP protein is a protein that protects cancer cells from being killed by chemotherapy. Dr. Brandes is determining how drugs that stop the PARP protein can be used for targeted therapy of non-small cell lung cancer.

Therapeutics Award
Navdeep Chandel, PhD
Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Funded by LUNGevity Foundation and Arkansas Respiratory Health Association, Breathe California of Los Angeles County, Breathe California of the Bay Area, Breathe New Hampshire, and Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago

Dr. Chandel is working to identify novel pathways underlying KRAS-driven lung cancer. He is testing two pathways, to determine how mitochondria (powerhouses of the cell) and Notch signaling (a pathway often activated in lung cancer that relays information from outside the cell to inside) behave differently in cancer and non-cancer cells.

Therapeutics Award
John Eaton, PhD
University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Funded equally by LUNGevity Foundation and the American Lung Association

Previous work of Dr. Eaton and colleagues has demonstrated that mice vaccinated with certain stem cells are 80%-90% protected against the growth of lung tumors injected into the mice as well as protected against the development of lung cancer caused by administration of a carcinogen. The current research is determining whether lung cancer stem cells are selectively destroyed by lymphocytes (immune cells) from vaccinated mice. Dr. Eaton is also determining whether stem cell vaccination  affects the growth of lung tumors in mice that have been genetically engineered to spontaneously develop lung cancer.

Therapeutics Award
Federico Innocenti, MD, PhD
University of Chicago Department of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Funded equally by LUNGevity Foundation and the Illinois Chapter of the American Cancer Society

The key proteins driving the growth of new blood vessels in tumors are the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its main receptors. Dr. Innocenti is studying how the level of these factors varies in the tumors of non-small cell lung cancer patients. He is also determining whether there is a genetic basis for the difference in their levels and what the role of these proteins in helping patients live longer is.

Therapeutics Award
Onkar Khullar, MD
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
Funded equally by LUNGevity Foundation and the Thoracic Surgery Foundation

Dr. Khullar’s project addresses a huge unmet need in lung cancer–how to ensure chemotherapy drugs are being delivered at the right concentration to sites of lung cancer metastasis. He has developed a nanoparticle system in which the particles carry the chemotherapy paclitaxel to different sites of metastasis, thus preventing the spread of lung cancer.

Therapeutics Award
Mark Jonathan Krasna, MD
The Cancer Institute, St. Joseph Medical Center, Towson, MD
LUNGevity Foundation/The Cancer Institute at St. Joseph Medical Center Research Grant

Patients often face anxiety and distress following a lung cancer diagnosis. Dr. Krasna is studying how we can improve the recognition and treatment of psychosocial distress in lung cancer patients.

Therapeutics Award
Mats Ljungman, PhD
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
LUNGevity Foundation/Uniting Against Lung Cancer Research Grant

Small cell lung cancer cells produce high amounts of myc protein.  The myc protein makes cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy. Dr. Ljungman is investigating why small cell lung cancer makes high amounts of the myc protein and how this can be reversed.